Giro d’Italia 2025 LIVE: Stage 12 result and updates as Olav Kooij wins thrilling sprint

Visma-Lease a Bike’s Giro d’Italia continued to improve as Olav Kooij picked up his first win of this year’s race

(AP)

The 2025 Giro d’Italia continued with a day out for the sprinters after several intriguing stages in the battle for the general classification.

A three-man breakaway was reeled in as the riders headed onto the closing circuit in the city centre of Viadana, teeing up the expected bunch sprint on stage 12.

And it was Olav Kooij of Visma-Lease a Bike who won a thrilling, closely contested five-way battle.

Stage four winner Casper van Uden launched early but his compatriot switched effortlessly from the phenomenal leadout of teammate Wout van Aert onto van Uden’s wheel, before rounding him with ease closer to the line.

Mads Pedersen still leads the points classification by a huge margin but could not add to his three stage wins, finishing fourth, while Ben Turner of Ineos Grenadiers sprinted impressively for third, behind van Uden.

Follow all the action with The Independent’s live blog below:

Giro d'Italia stage 12 LIVE

• Giro continues with stage 12, a 172km sprint stage from Modena to Viadana
• Isaac del Toro added to his advantage in the GC with bonus seconds on stage 11
• Stage 11 was won by Richard Carapaz with an audacious late attack
• Primoz Roglic remains fifth, more than a minute off the lead
• Olav Kooij wins stage 12

[22 May 2025 10:14 · Flo Clifford]

Stage 12 route map and preview

Giro d'Italia – stage 12 map (giroditalia.it)

Giro d'Italia – stage 12 profile (giroditalia.it)

[22 May 2025 10:07 · Flo Clifford]

Stage 12 preview

The sprinters get another run-out today after a few GC-heavy days in the 2025 Giro d’Italia and a couple of thrilling stages for the breakaway.

There’s 1700m of elevation gain on today’s 172km stage, but it’s a real stage of two halves, with all that climbing before the 100km to go mark. From there it’s almost entirely pan-flat, so expect any potential escapees to be caught and the sprint trains mass at the front to set up a drag race to the line.

Starting in Modena, the parcours tilts uphill almost straightaway, gently at first to the category three climb at Baiso, 40km in, before rolling terrain carries the riders to the intermediate sprint at Felina. That up and down continues until the second of two classified climbs, 96km in at Borsea, with the second intermediate sprint on the flat at Sant’Ilario d’Enza.

The sprinters may sweep up the bonus seconds and get a practice for the real thing in Viadana at the Red Bull kilometre in Brescello, 33km before the finish line. They then swing onto a 28.6km circuit of Viadana on mostly wide, straight, urban roads, and a wide, flat finishing straight with its final corner 500m from the line. Pure bunch sprint territory.

[22 May 2025 10:00 · Flo Clifford]

Good morning

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia!

Back onto the flat today for another outing for the fast men, after an intriguing few days in the ongoing GC battle.